Competition, corporate governance and financing of corporate growth in emerging markets

Abstract The micro-economic behaviour of economic agents in the crisis-affected Asian economies, together with the private sector’s expanding role in developing countries in general have focused attention on issues of competition, corporate governance and finance. The paper explores the analytical links between these phenomena. It provides evidence on the dynamics of product market competition in seven emerging economies by time series analysis of persistence of corporate profitability during the 1980s and 90s. The surprising central finding is that the intensity of competition in emerging markets is no less than in advanced countries. The paper also briefly reports on major changes in the financing of corporate growth in India and considers its implications for the extant theories of law, finance and corporate governance